Good morning! Gotcha with the clickbaity political-adjacent subject line! 

Listen, folks. We’re keeping things brief this week. I’m prepping to go to Paris 2024 and should be packing instead of writing this right now. Thankfully for you, you won’t hear me talk about it again for the next three weeks until we return to our regular cadence on August 14. 

In the meantime, we’ve got coconut trees to fall out of.

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🤸 Make America Play Again

Do what you love, and you’ll never exercise a day in your life.

Well, you should still definitely exercise. But if you make it fun, it should feel more like play than exercise!

While not all of the “good for us” exercise can be fun, a bulk of it can! Sometimes you still gotta do the chores (brush your teeth, make your bed, wash the dishes, etc.) because they’re necessary and good for you. There may be some aspects of exercise that feel more like a chore to you. That’s okay and normal, because if you invest time in those, you can treat the rest of your exercise as play and just have fun with it!

I’m still (and I guess always?) trying to improve my VO2max, or essentially my peak cardiorespiratory fitness. But the workouts sometimes get dreadful: Four minutes as hard as you can go, three to four minutes rest, and repeat. While it can absolutely catapult a flood of endorphins into your body, it can also make you want to vomit and cry at the same time.

So last week, I decided to switch it up. I picked a different exercise modality at my gym for each four-minute session. I started the first round on an assault bike, did the next round on a rowing machine, and completed my final round on a ski ergometer. I’ve only recently gotten back into assault bikes, haven’t used a rowing machine in years, and had never done a ski erg workout before! 

Let me tell you, it was much more fun and entertaining than if I had just been running on the treadmill. I got to try new things, workout different muscle groups, and learn what it felt like to really push intensity in very different movements. My heart rate didn’t get as high (meaning I probably didn’t get quite the same stimulus) because there’s a bit of a learning curve getting a feel for new movement patterns, but I know I’ll get there.

The time went by much faster! Time flies when you’re having fun. And if this doesn’t at all sound like your idea of fun, well I’m sure something else might. That’s for you to decide.

• Is it rock climbing, yoga in the park, hiking, pick-up games with friends, roller skating, skiing, kayaking, jumping rope, dancing the night away?

• Maybe you’re a habitual gym rat and just trying a new machine at the end of your workout is enough fun to spice things up and keep you motivated. We’re all unique.

Play the day away

Regardless, life’s too short to fill your entire exercise regimen with things you don’t enjoy. Life will be even shorter if you do no exercise at all.

Think about kids. They can thrive without even needing structured exercise because they play! An afternoon full of biking around, freeze tag, hopscotch, and monkey bars is about as holistic of an exercise routine as it gets. 

And to them, it doesn’t even feel like work. It’s fun!

Move to Improve is about revolutionizing the way adults move throughout the world. We haven’t even touched on the mental and social health benefits of play, but they are numerous! 

(Side note: If you’ve got a few milly 💰️ and a passion to make ya boy’s dream come true, hit me up and invest in my endeavor to make worldwide grown-up playtime a global phenomenon!)

Get out of your normal routine and try something new. Or if you already know a form of active play you enjoy, give yourself the love you deserve to partake in it multiple times this week!

We’ve only got one wild and precious life to live, and I’d rather spend most of it laughing and playing than begrudgingly going through the motions. 

On that note, I’ll see you on the other side of watching some of the greatest in the world do not what they have to do, but what they love to do. It makes all the difference. 🥇 

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Play.

Level 2: Play some more!

Level 3: PLAY THE MOST!

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Go for gold: Your go-to day-by-day guide to catch all the top moments from the 2024 Paris Olympic Games!

Catch ya in a few weeks! Get out there and play around. ✌️ 

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).